88

EUROPE FROM 911 TO 1198

Bohemian guj- disturbances had arisen again in the south-east.

overcome Bratislav of Bohemia had taken advantage of the anarchy
in Poland to invade it with fire and sword; even Cracow
itself was plundered and burnt. From Gnesen he took the
bones of St. Adalbert to Prague, the bishopric of which he
tried to induce the Pope to erect into an archbishopric, in
order that his country, like Poland and Hungary, might be
ecclesiastically independent of Germany. Whatever view
Henry might take of this, it was certain that he would be
gravely offended by the devastation of one vassal State by
another, and Bratislav attempted to placate him. The king
would be content with nothing less than Bratislav's appear-
ance in person to do homage and make reparation, and as
Bratislav failed to appear he led a punitive expedition
against him in 1040. He fell into an ambush and had to
beat a humiliating retreat. However, in the next year he
took more precautions. Advancing with a large army on
Prague, and supported by a simultaneous Bavarian attack
in the south, he forced Bratislav to a complete surrender.
The Bohemian duke had to abase himself before the king at
Ratisbon, and after doing homage was reinstated in his
duchy ; he had learnt his lesson, and henceforward remained
a faithful vassal. At the same time Casimir regained the
duchy of Poland, also as a vassal of the king of Germany.
Hungary was by this time a centre of disturbance also.
St. Stephen, left without a son, had passed over his brother's

overiordship children and bequeathed the throne to Peter, the son of his
sister Gisela and the Venetian doge Otto Orseolo. Stephen
himself had married a sister of the Emperor Henry II, and
valued the German and Italian connexion; his kinsfolk, he
knew, were hostile to German influences and probably also
to Christianity. Peter, who succeeded to the throne in 1039,
showed no sense of the danger that threatened him, and
even alienated German sympathies by allying with Bratislav.
Then what Stephen had feared came to pass. A revolt
broke out, and Peter had to fly for refuge to Henry III. The
Hungarian nobles set up one of their number, Obo, as king,
and he took the aggressive at once by raiding Bavaria with
the ferocity of the Magyars of old. Henry after two expedi-
tions forced Obo in 1043 to surrender the territory ceded by
Conrad II, and in 1044 he restored Peter to the throne of

Hungary

recognises

German